Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-06-02


Land Of the Oii,e-The Trepidatinn
with Which Criminal Met His
Doom.
/ suddenly the crowd halts and great
silence falls A close carriage. with
blinds down. escorted by picket of civil
guards. slowly passes through the press.
We eau follow it without hurrying our
selves
/ In little while the place Of execution
appears before me, throuEed with 4 null
titude swaying like a tide and up from
the sea of heads emerErS the white mast
/ Of the scatiold
| approach.
Lying upon a stool. covered with snow
white cloth, is the garrote itself shin
meriug like a crown of steel In little
while the eNecu;ioner will attach il 10 a
post against which the criminal Is To De
fastened. The final preparations con
sumed considerable time, :" that was
well able 10 make leisurely examination
of the sinister locality whittier curiosity
hal drawn me for the purpuSr "f studying
the physi"gnomy of the great pushing or
squeezing crowd As always, and in all
places, the women Were the most numer-
Gus
Now there is great movement around
the scatfpld- The soldiers close their
ranks and three men approach the scaf-
fold One of them asCcudS it. II i the
pNecutioner. He is thin, low sized and
looks about 10 years old. While waiting
for his victim he keeps walking nervouSly
to and fro with his hands behind his back
and his head down. From time 10 time
he stops aud looks at the argnlla the
''garrnte'D with n suspicious expression
of conntenance. Perhaps he is afraid Of
the power of resistance possessed 10y the
cervical vertehrG Of Alvarez, and is there
fore afraid of losing his bounty.
THE DISMAL sCAFFoLn.
Noisy as il WAS little while ago, the
crowd aow suddenly becomes silent
Some women are turning pale. and one
can feel that a nervous excitement weighs
upon the crowd. \ low rumhling is
heard II iS the black carriage that bears
the condemned man. II stops at the foot
Of the >Catfuld: and the criminal is soon
painfully climbing the twelve high steps
of the dismal ScafIold, leaning on the arm
of a priest. Another priest preCe,leS him,
lifting very high an immense cruCitix,
toward which the condemned man strives
TO turn his terror stricken face. Alvarez
Olivia iS not Vet - years old; and it was
believed that the savage energy he had
displayed in committing his crime, to
geIhcr with his vigorous youth. would
give him strength to face death But
nothing of the kind is now shown by him;
and really it was too much Ia expect Of n
man who knew his fate forty eight hours
az ;, and who. while listening 10 the fu-
neral chants i'll the prison chapel, must
have heheld ali kinds Of hidcous visions
passing before him.
This rule Of oblging the condemned 10
listen during the two nights preceding his
execution t. an intcrmuahle series Of
prayers. requicins. De Pguiuudis chants
Uttered for the repoSe Of his soul 10y his
fellow criminals. seems to me something
attractions. and can see in il the last
ve>tige uf the ferocious medieval mysti-
ciSm uf Spain. with all its unconscious
cruelty As stood on an elevation over
looking the scaifold. | was able 10 observe
all the details OF the last scene uf the
tragedy. The condemned man meChan-
icatv Welded himself up To the cNecutoner
The latter sat down at the foot uf the
post with his back IL il and then tied his
hands and feet hard and fast He did all
this without hurrying himself in the least,
and with all the dignitied indifference
which characteriZes the Spanish function
airy in the discharge of his duty. IL the
preparations had lasted even few seconds
longer believe / should have lost my
own self control. could hear my heart
humping in my breast, aud every mo
ment or two something like Veil came
before my eyes